Roller cotton gin



Oct. 6, 1964 F. E. DEEMS oLLER COTTON GIN Filed May 22, 1962 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. FRANK E. DEEMS minimum...

I il ATTORNEYS Oct. 6, 1964 F. E. DEEMS 3,151,361

ROLLER COTTON GIN 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 `I f /f :Ill kiln; I 2 d mil 'I E '74Irl l! INVENTOR.

flill "wf f im i FRANK E.DEEMS 'l 7 ii i BY 26 ai uw ,Wasn Mwfmw 'WilliMi -h' ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,151,361 RGLLER COTTQN GTNFrank E. Decine, Birmingham, Ala., assigner to Continental Sin Company,Birmingham, Ala., a corporation of Alabama Filed May 2'2, 1962, Ser. No.@6,644 4 Claims. (Cl. 19-50) This invention relates to a cotton gin and,in particular, a roller cotton gin characterized in operating with ahigh degree of eiliciency and having high capacity.

Roller cotton gins are well known and one well known type is illustratedin the Williams, lr., et al. Patent 2,929,1ll. This type of rollercotton gin delivers seed cotton to the periphery of a ginning roller andbars pass over the roller and co-operate with the roller and astationary knife blade to efrect separation of the seeds from the lintcotton, whereupon, the seeds and the lint cotton are separatelycollected and the ginning operation is thereby accomplished.

Roller cotton gins according to the Williams, lr., et al. patent,however, have a number of drawbacks that it is proposed to overcome bythe structure of the present invention. In particular, the chainscarrying the bars are guided over sprockets in prior art roller gins andthis does not provide the best path of travel for the bars to operateeiicient ginning of the seed cotton while, at the same time, protectingthe ginning roller from undue wear due to abrasion by the bars.

Still further, sprockets, when chains are run thereover at high speeds,tend to cause vibration on the chains and high speed operation of rollercotton gins of this nature is, therefore, difficult and the vibrationset up in the ginning structure detracts from the efliciency ofoperation of the cotton gin. For example, such vibration could cause theknives or bars to lose their grip on the bers at the very time when sucha grip is required to eect proper ginning of .the cotton.

Still further, no sprocket support for the roller chains carrying theknives or bars can give exactly the best possible path of travel to thebars at the time that they pass over the end of the stationary knifeprovided adjacent the periphery of the ginning roller and which knife iseffective for causing the actual separation of the seed from the lintcotton.

With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present invention isto provide a roller cotton gin of greatly improved operatingcharacteristics.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a rollercotton gin in which knives or bars are carried by chains adjacent theperiphery of the ginning roller and wherein the path of travel of thesaid knives or bars is not dependent on the sprockets for the supportchains which carry the knives or bars.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a rollercotton gin in which inetlicient operation on account of vibration iseliminated by eliminating the said vibration.

Still a further object or the present invention is the provision of aroller gin structure in which the chains that carry the knives or barsthat move across the surface of the girning roller are supported andguided externally of the lower part of the ginning structure therebyleaving this entire portion of the structure more accessible for work onthe ginning roller and for exposing the sections of the gin whichreceive the unginned cotton and which receive the ginned cotton lint.

These and ot Ler objectsand advantages of this invention will becomemore apparent upon, reference to the following specication, taken` inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which:` 7

FIGURE l is a somewhat diagrammatic vertical sectional View takenthrough a roller cotton gin constructed according to my invention;

FlGURE 2 is a sectional View indicated by line 2-2 on FTGURE 1 showingthe ginning roller and the manner in which the bars or knives aresupported relative to the ginning roller;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view indicated by line 3-3 on FIGURE 2 showingthe cam means which guide the bar or knife supporting chains during thetravel thereof over the ginning roller and also showing the adjustablesupports for the cam means;

FIGURE 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic View showing the ginning action asit occurs in a roller cotton gin'according to the present invention; and

FGURE 5 is a somewhat modiiied arrangement with the knife or bar mountedin a somewhat different location relative to the rollers of thesupporting chains.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, the various parts ofa roller cotton gin according to my invention are somewhatdiagrammatically illustrated in FGURES l and 2 wherein it will be seenthat the structure comprises a casing l() and mounted within the casingis a rotatable ginning roller l2. Mounted within the casing for movementover the surface of ginning roller 12 are a plurality of spaced carrierchains 14.

These chains are supported on sprockets 16, at least one of which isdriven so that the chains move in the path indicated by the arrows i8.Simultaneously with the movement of the chains, the ginning rollerrotates in' the direction of the arrow 2c thereon andoverspeeds thechains by from about twenty-five percent to about two hundred fiftypercent.

Extending laterally of the ginning roller are bars or knives 22 whichare attached to the chains to be moved therewith.

T he upper pontion of the ginning roller, which is the portion overwhich the bars or knives 22 move in proximity to the surface of theginning roller, is exposed between a shield member 24 at one side and astationary ginning knife 25 at the other side. This exposed surface ofthe ginning roller is the region in which the lint cotton is separatedfrom the seeds as the seed cotton passes through the roller cotton ginof the present invention.

The seed cotton is supplied to the upper portion of the ginning rollerby way of a feed passage 28 which extends upwardly from the ginningroller and at the top of which is an in-fed conveyor means Sil whichmight be,

for example, a screw conveyor. i

The seed cotton is delivered in a transverse direction by the conveyorin this manner because, as contrasted to roller cotton gins of the priorart, the chain means i4 of the present invention 'take their returnmovement above the ginning roller rather than beneath the ginningroller. This has the advantage of exposing the entire roller portion ofthe structure for the instrumentalities necessary for receiving the gincotton and for discharging cotton seeds and for removing partiallyginned cotton and returning it to the gin for being again passedtherethrough. y

The seed cotton delivered by in-feed conveyor means 3-9 is delivered toa pair of feed rollers 32 which are adapted for being driven at apredetermined speed by an adjustable speed drive generally indicated at34. This adjustable speed drive permits the feeding of cotton downwardlyto the ginning roller at the desired rate or speed.

Beneath the speed rollers 32 that accomplishes the nal movement of theseed cotton downwardly to the ginning roller. l

is another speed roller 36 l partially ginned cotton from the bars orknives that might adhere thereto and for delivering this material downan incline plate 4@ to a reclaimer saw 42.

Positioned immediately above reclaimer saw 42 and running fairly closelyadjacent the bars or knives 22 and also closely adjacent wiper 38 is asecond reclaimer saw 44 which insures that all of the partially ginnedcotton and the like will be delivered to saw 42.

In a manner known in the art of cleaning cotton, saw 42 whips thematerial delivered thereto over the bars 46 and, in this manner,extracts at least some of the seeds therefrom and which seeds dropdownwardly in the casing, some thereof passing through the inclinedgrill 48, and those thereof still containing any substantial amount oflint, being delivered to another reclaimer saw 50.

Reclaimer saw 50 whips the material delivered thereto over another setof bars 52 extracting still more of the seed therefrom. The unginnedseed cotton, or cotton fibers that still remain on the saws 42 and 5i)are removed therefrom by dong brush S4 and delivered into a chute 56.This material, which can be designated reclaimed seed cotton or lint, isconducted via conveyor means generally indicated at 58 back to theincoming conveyor means 30 and again passed through the gin.

The seeds that pass through the grill 4S and those that are passedthrough bar S2 drop into a discharge chute 6i) which may have adischarge conveyor means 62. therein for conveying them away from theginning structure.

Returning now to the ginning roller 12, the fibers that are carried bythis roller beneath knife 26 drop into the ginned cotton hopper 64, orare removed from the ginning roller by dofiing roller 66, or by an airblast or the like, so that all of the clean cotton fibers from theginning roller are delivered to hopper or chute 64 from which Vthey passto a further processing station.

The bars or knives 22 carried by the chains are cleaned after passingthe wiper 38 as by being subjected to suction from a nozzle 68 that isconnected to a suction iiue 70. This picks up loose locks of seed cottonand loose fibers and this material can be returned to the in-feedconveyor means 39 in any suitable manner.

The present invention is further concerned with the guiding of thechains I4 and the knives carried thereby when they are passing in theimmediate vicinity of the ginning roller. This is accomplished bysupporting the chains by cams during this portion of their travel ratherthan sprockets so that the movement of the chains and knives can beguided along the exact path desired and also so as to eliminatevibration of the chains and knives which would occur as a naturalconsequence of passing the chains around small sprockets as has beendone heretofore.

Still further, by utilizing cams to guide the chains, the chains can becaused to carry the knives along in proximity to the surface of theginning roller for a substantially longer distance than has heretoforebeen possible when supporting the chains on sprockets. This increasesthe length of time that the locks of cotton are subjected to the ginningaction which takes place between the ginning roller and each bar orknife and thus substantially increases the capacity of the gin and alsoincreases the eiciency of the ginning action thereof.

The cam arrangements for supporting the chains will best be seen inFIGURES 2 and 3. In these views, it will be seen that there is locatedat each of the ginning roller 12 and secured to the walls 72 of thecasing it), the cams 74 which engageV the outermost chains 14. Thesecams are contoured to support and guide chains 14 so as to hold theknives or bars 22 carried thereby in exactly the proper relation to theadjacent surface of the ginning roller throughout the time that the barsor knives are passing over the surface of the ginning roller.

' The cams 7d are preferably adjustably mounted on the respective casingwalls, as by having one end supported by eccentric pin means 76 andhaving bolt means 78 at the other end passing through a slot 30 in thewall 72. An adjustable abutment screw 32 is arranged adjacent each camli4 at the end opposite eccentric pin 76 and, in this manner, the exactpositioning of the cams can be adjusted.

It will be understood that the eccentric pin 76 could be replaced byanother adjustable means, the essential thing being that the cam isadjustably supported so that it can be positioned very exactly relativeto the ginning roller.

Cam 74 guides the chains and the bars or knives carried thereby whilethe bars or knives pass about the ginning roller, but it is alsoimportant to guide the chains and bars as they leave the ginning rollerand pass over the knife 26. This is accomplished by still another cammeans, one of which is indicated at 84 in FIGURE l. This is a circularcam about which the chains pass as they leave the ginning roller.

This cam, of course, can be adjustably supported in any desired manner.

Another such cam arrangement is indicated at 86 in FIGURE 3. This camarrangement is adjustably supported on the casing as by bolts 88 withthere being a plurality of adjusting screws 90 distributed about the camfor adjusting the precise position thereof.

The cam means 74, as mentioned above, is important for guiding thechains and the bars carried thereby during the time that the bars aremoving in proximity to the surface of the ginning roller, while the cammeans S4 or 86 determine the path taken by the chains and the bars orknives as they leave the surface of the roller and pass over thestationary knife 26.

The movement of the bars or knives 22 during this period isl illustratedin FIGURE 4 wherein it will be seen that iibers are being drawn underthe stationary knife 26 by the ginning roller, while the seeds arecaused to pass over the stationary knife by the bars or knives 22.

FIGURE 4 shows the knives connected to the chains intermediate theindividual rollers 92 of the chains and the knives are cradled therebycausing the leading and trailing edges of the knives 22 to followessentially the same path Ypast stationary knife 26, whereas, FIGURE 5shows an arrangement wherein the knives 22 are connected to the links 94in the region of the leading edge of the rollers 92. The FIGURE 5arrangement provides a somewhat diiferent path for the trailing edges ofthe knives 22 in that the trailing edges follow the dashed line ofFIGURE 5 which path is closer to cam 34 or cam 36, which cams determinethe path taken by the chains and moving knives as they leave the surfaceof the roller and pass over stationary knife 26. It should be noted thatin the FIGURE 5 arrangement, the knives 22 do not begin to rotateclockwise until the trailing edges are past the seeds retained onstationary knife 26. In FIG- URE 5, the trailing edge is closer to thecenter of cam 84 (better seen in FIGURE 1) than the leading edge. Sincethere is little movement of the knives 22 on the cam 84, lthe knives 22will retain this position relative to the stationary knife 26 until thetrailing edge is past the knife Z6 as' shown by the dotted line ofFIGURE 5. This permits the trailing edges to pass over the seeds andallow the leading edges of the next following knives to engage the saidseeds and push them over the top of the stationary knife 26.

, Inasmuch as that, even with the knives 22 supported so as to move inclose proximity to the ginning roller 12, some wear of the ginningrollerwill take place and, in order to compensate for this, the shaft 96of the roller is. supported in `bearings 98 that are adjustable towardand away vfrom knife 26 in the direction of the arrow I0() in FIGURE 1so that the ginning roller can be maintained in proper relation to thestationary knife. A gin according to the present invention,to give aspecific example, that is not intended to be in any way limiting, mightemploy a ginning roller of from twelve to fifteen inches in diameterrotating at a surface speed of from about two thousand to eight thousandinches per minute. The speed of the moving knives which is always lessthan the surface speed of the ginning roller, might range from about onethousand to four thousand inches per minute.

The knives may be made of square stock from onehalf to one inch or so ona side and are spaced apart from about one-half to four inches along thesupporting chains therefor.

A gin according to the present invention, over prolonged periods, iscapable of producing clean lint at a rate of up to four times or morethe capacity of conventional roller gins.

It will be understood that the ginning roller is possessed of a surfacecharacterized in that the fibers of cotton will cling thereto so that asthe ginning roller rotates, the fibers are dragged along the surface ofthe ginning roller. On account of the arrangement of the presentinvention whereby the moving knives are held closely adjacent thesurface of the ginning roller for a substantial distance, in fact, forsubstantially the entire distance of the region where the seed cotton isdelivered to the ginning roller and the point where the stationary knifeis located, it will be apparent that there will be a prolonged ginningaction between the ginning roller and the moving knives that willgreatly increase the efficiency of operation of the arrangement and inaddition will protect the surface of the ginning roller because themoving knife means will be held in spaced relation thereto.

It will be understood that the stationary knife means bears on thesurface of the ginning roller and under no operative conditions' does itever become spaced from the roller by more than the lateral dimension ofa cotton seed so that while fibers can be drawn under the stationaryknife by the ginning roller, the seeds will be prevented from passingbeneath the stationary knife and will, instead, be forced over thestationary knife by the moving knife means and, in this manner, beseparated from the cotton fibers.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modificationin order to adapt it to different usages and conditions, and,accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within thisinvention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. In a cotton gin; a ginning roller rotatable on a horizontal axis,means for feeding seed cotton to the surface of said ginning roller at apredetermined circumferential point thereof, a stationary knife adjacentsaid ginning roller slightly spaced from the surface thereof and locatedcircumferentially about the roller from the said feed means in thedirection of rotation of the roller, a plurality of moving knives havingleading and trailing edges extending in a direction parallel to the axisof the ginning roller and arranged in parallel spaced relation, supportchains connected with said moving knives, sprockets supporting saidchains and providing one reach of the chain extending adjacent theperiphery of the ginning roller in the region between said feed meansand said stationary knife, and adjustable cam means having arcuatesliding surfaces engaging said support chains in the said reach thereofthat is adjacent the ginning roller and guiding said chain means so thatthe knives carried thereby follow a fixed path between said feed meansand said stationary knife that is parallel to and slightly spaced fromthe surface of said ginning roller for pre-ginning the seed cotton andfor eliminating whip in said support chains, thereby providing apre-ginning of the seed cotton prior to reaching said stationary knife,said support chains comprising spaced rollers and links extendingtherebetween, and said moving knives being attached to links of saidchains in the center thereof in order that the said leading and trailingedges of said knives follow approximately the same path past saidstationary knife.

2. In a cotton gin; a ginning roller rotatable on a horizontal axis,means for feeding seed cotton to the surface of said ginning roller at apredetermined circumferential point thereof, a stationary knife adjacentsaid ginning roller slightly spaced from the surface thereof and 1ocatedcircumferentially about the roller from the said feed means in thedirection of rotation of the roller, a plurality of moving knives havingleading and trailing edges extending in a direction parallel to the axisof the ginning roller and arranged in parallel spaced relation, supportchains connected with said moving knives, sprockets supporting saidchains and providing one reach of the chain extending adjacent theperiphery of the ginning roller in the region between said feed meansand said stationary knife, and adjustable cam means having arcuatesliding surfaces engaging said support chains in the said reach thereofthat is adjacent the ginning roller and guiding said chain means so thatthe knives carried thereby follow an arcuate path between said feedmeans and said stationary knife that is parallel to and slightly spacedfrom the surface of said ginning roller for preginning the seed cottonand for eliminating whip in said support chains, thereby providing apre-ginning of the seed cotton prior to reaching said stationary knife,said support chains comprising spaced rollers and links extendingtherebetween, and said moving knives being connected with links of saidchains at the leading ends of said links for imparting a predeterminedrelationship between the path taken by the leading edge of each movingknife and the trailing edge thereof.

3. A method of ginning seed cotton which comprises; feeding the seedcotton to the periphery of a rotating ginning roller, moving the seedcotton by the ginning roller to a stationary knife spacedcircumferentially about the ginning roller from the point of feedingcotton thereto and in the direction of rotation of the ginning roller,drawing the fibers of the cotton beneath the stationary knife by theginning roller While the stationary knife prevents movement of the seedswith the said fibers, and conveying moving knives in spaced relation andarranged parallel to the axis of rotation of the ginring rollerthereover between the point of feeding the seed cotton to the ginningroller and the stationary knife, supporting and guiding said movingknives so that they move parallel to the surface of the ginning rollerand in slightly spaced relation thereto whereby a prolonged ginningaction is had between each moving knife and the ginning roller beforereaching said stationary knife, and moving the said moving knives in thesame direction as the surface of the ginning roller but at a lowerspeed.

4. In a cotton gin; a ginning roller rotatable on a horizontal axis,means for feeding seed cotton to the surface of said ginning roller at apredetermined circumferential point thereof, a stationary knife adjacentsaid ginning roller adjacent to the surface thereof and locatedcircurnferentially about the roller from the said feed means in thedirection of rotation of the roller, a plurality of moving knivesextending in a direction parallel to the axis of the ginning roller andarranged in parallel spaced relation, support chains forming a closedpath connected with said moving knives, sprockets supporting said chainsand providing one reach of the chain extending adjacent the periphery ofthe ginning roller in the region between said feed means and saidstationary knife, and first cam means having arcuate sliding surfacessupportingly engaging said support chains in the said reach thereof thatis adjacent the ginning roller and guiding said chain means so that theknives carried thereby follow a fixed path between said feed means andpast said stationary knife that is parallel to and Vslightly spaced fromthe surface Yof said ginning roller for pre-ginning said seed cotton andfor eliminating whip inmsaid support chains, said ginning roller beingadjustable toward and away from said stationary knife, there beingsecond cam means having arcuate sliding surfaces supportingly engagingsaid support chains after the said chains have passed said stationaryknife for guiding the support chains and the said moving knives carriedthereby as the moving knives leave the region of the ginning roller andpass over said stationary knife, said first and second cam means beingadjustably supported for adjusting the exact location of the path takenby said moving knives relative 10 2,929,111

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS GravesOct. 3, 1899 Moseley May 26, 1953 Williams et al Mar. 22, 1960

4. IN A COTTON GIN; A GINNING ROLLER ROTATABLE ON A HORIZONTAL AXIS,MEANS FOR FEEDING SEED COTTON TO THE SURFACE OF SAID GINNING ROLLER AT APREDETERMINED CIRCUMFERENTIAL POINT THEREOF, A STATIONARY KNIFE ADJACENTSAID GINNING ROLLER ADJACENT TO THE SURFACE THEREOF AND LOCATEDCIRCUMFERENTIALLY ABOUT THE ROLLER FROM THE SAID FEED MEANS IN THEDIRECTION OF ROTATION OF THE ROLLER, A PLURALITY OF MOVING KNIVESEXTENDING IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE GINNING ROLLER ANDARRANGED IN PARALLEL SPACED RELATION, SUPPORT CHAINS FORMING A CLOSEDPATH CONNECTED WITH SAID MOVING KNIVES, SPROCKETS SUPPORTING SAID CHAINSAND PROVIDING ONE REACH OF THE CHAIN EXTENDING ADJACENT THE PERIPHERY OFTHE GINNING ROLLER IN THE REGION BETWEEN SAID FEED MEANS AND SAIDSTATIONARY KNIFE, AND FIRST CAM MEANS HAVING ARCUATE SLIDING SURFACESSUPPORTINGLY ENGAGING SAID SUPPORT CHAINS IN THE SAID REACH THEREOF THATIS ADJACENT THE GINNING ROLLER AND GUIDING SAID CHAIN MEANS SO THAT THEKNIVES CARRIED THEREBY FOLLOW A FIXED PATH BETWEEN SAID FEED MEANS ANDPAST SAID STATIONARY KNIFE THAT IS PARALLEL TO AND SLIGHTLY SPACED FROMTHE SURFACE OF SAID GINNING ROLLER FOR PRE-GINNING SAID SEED COTTON ANDFOR ELIMINATING WHIP IN SAID SUPPORT CHAINS, SAID GINNING ROLLER BEINGADJUSTABLE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID STATIONARY KNIFE, THERE BEINGSECOND CAM MEANS HAVING ARCUATE SLIDING SURFACES SUPPORTINGLY ENGAGINGSAID SUPPORT CHAINS AFTER THE SAID CHAINS HAVE PASSED SAID STATIONARYKNIFE FOR GUIDING THE SUPPORT CHAINS AND THE SAID MOVING KNIVES CARRIEDTHEREBY AS THE MOVING KNIVES LEAVE THE REGION OF THE GINNING ROLLER ANDPASS OVER SAID STATIONARY KNIFE, SAID FIRST AND SECOND CAM MEANS BEINGADJUSTABLY SUPPORTED FOR ADJUSTING THE EXACT LOCATION OF THE PATH TAKENBY SAID MOVING KNIVES RELATIVE TO THE SURFACE OF THE GINNING ROLLER ANDRELATIVE TO SAID STATIONARY KNIFE, AND SAID SUPPORT MEANS BEING ADAPTEDTO TRAVEL OVER SAID FIRST CAM MEANS AND UNDER SAID SECOND CAM MEANS.